Winner Takes Nothing

I have been failing on Biggie Shorty, a V10 at LRC, for the past probably 5 or 6 climbing days. That is just recently. I also put quite a bit of time in on it at the beginning of the season. I still can’t make the big first move. I have all the other moves dialed and ready to go if I can ever pull off that first move but it just won’t go. Sending Biggie Shorty would mean quite a lot to me. The climb is iconic of power and strength. It has a ridiculously long move that I would love to overcome. It involves an intense dyno off small crimpers to a fairly small hold where I have to launch, cut my feet, and reel my body in on my shoulders.



Me wondering what to do on the last day at Biggie Shorty

The send of Biggie Shorty would have been for the win of the big competition between Mike, Josh and I. But the competition is now off. The competition actually started getting derailed a while ago though. Let me remind you about that comp since it’s been awhile since I talked about it. The three of us had picked 3 problems, one each, and whoever did all three first was supposed to get an all-expense paid trip to Hueco Tanks. Also, whoever was the first to send each one got a dinner of their choice. The problems were Zion at Rocktown, Biggie Shorty at LRC, and Lord of the Dance at Dayton. Things started looking good for Josh who did Biggie-Shorty very early in the season but then no one was getting any closer on anything with the cold, rainy weather for about 2 months. We all started training in the gym a lot.

One day, when we braved the cold to give Lord of the Dance a try, we decided to change the rules up. Nobody was getting any closer to doing the big throw on Lord of the Dance and no one was interested in going to Rocktown to work on Zion which was my pick. I agreed to substitute out Zion if we also picked a new problem to substitute for Lord of the Dance. Since all of us were seeming to get close on Hustle and Flow at Hospital Boulders and Honeycomb at Dayton, we decided to substitute those in with a big adult shake. Well, just recently I sent those two problems, things happened, the bet was off, and I didn’t have to focus on Biggie Shorty anymore. (If you didn’t notice, I take competitions fairly seriously!)

Academia versus V10 from Patti Wohner on Vimeo.

A short creative video I put together of me on Honeycomb and Hustle and Flow

With the competition out of the way, this weekend, at age 40, exactly a year since I did my first V10, I bouldered V11 in Pep Boys; Gross’ Roof. I knew it was coming, I just didn’t know when. The send of my first V11 was somewhat anti-climactic as it only took me 4 tries to do it. (I had tried it a few times last season and it seemed possible). But there are more on the horizon and I am looking forward to my first ascent of V12. It’s only a matter of time!


Me on the crux of Gross' Roof.